PETERSON REVIEWS
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‘The Stuff’’s Evocative Stupidity
The 1985 film’s persistent illogic and ever-present suggestion that it’s going to fly off the rails make it come across as an up-is-down nightmare heightening real fears.
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Up to No Good
‘The Christophers,’ ‘The Stranger,’ and ‘Two Women,’ reviewed.
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Something’s Missing from ‘The Drama’
For 425: Kristoffer Borgli’s dark comedy is enjoyably prickly and queasily funny, but it’s surprisingly hesitant about fully engaging with its off-kilter premise.
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Different Angles
‘Steal This Story, Please!’ and ‘Palestine 36,’ reviewed.
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The Paranoid Corporate Games of ‘Black Test Car’
The pitilessness of Yasuzo Masumura’s black comedy continues to ring true more than six decades after its release.
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Superheroines
On Julia Loktev’s towering, terrifying ‘My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow.’
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Could the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas Become Filmmaking Hotspots?
For South Sound: Patrick Sheehan, founder of the new Peninsula Film Commission, thinks so.
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In ‘Jane,’ An Actress Stumbles Toward Greatness
On D.A. Pennebaker’s 1962 portrait of a young Jane Fonda.
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‘Project Hail Mary’ Aims to Please
For South Sound: Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s space-set adventure wants to be an old-fashioned crowd-pleaser — sometimes to its detriment.
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Catherine O’Hara Was at the Top of Her Game in ‘For Your Consideration’
Christopher Guest’s 2006 comedy is far less laugh-heavy than his previous movies, but the performances — particularly the late O’Hara’s — more than make up for it.
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‘The Girls’’ Feminist Frustrations
Notes on Mai Zetterling’s 1968 dark comedy.
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‘Undertone’: Horror for the Filmed-Podcast Era
Plus: ‘Young Mothers’ is a typically unvarnished, compassionate movie from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. (For 425)
OCTOBER 2026
The Theme is ‘Thrills and Chills’
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The Surprising Sensitivity of ‘The Leopard Man’
This proto-slasher from 1943 takes pains to show that its victims are more than their fates.
August 19, 2026
May 25, 2026
May 13, 2026
Strong, Stoic Types
Director-star Paul Newman’s 1971 treatment of Ken Kesey’s ‘Sometimes a Great Notion’ perceptively observes the corrosiveness of toxic masculinity.
August 7, 2026
Working Girls
‘Broken Mirrors,’ Marleen Gorris’ 1984 follow-up to her still-transcendent feminist drama ‘A Question of Silence,’ expands on its predecessor’s themes while dramatically improving on its writer-director’s aesthetic command.
July 9, 2026
Found Connections
Donna Deitch’s ‘Desert Hearts’ was a breakthrough for lesbian representation in cinema. It also achieves another rarified thing: Characters who feel like they exist outside a screenplay’s bounds.
June 30, 2026
